...Makeup Junkie Extraordinaire! Blogger, Esthetician and Freelance Writer. I have been in the beauty industry for over 25 years!

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Saturday, May 4, 2013

Review: tarte Aqualilies Collection

tarte cosmetics came out with the cutest tie-in for summer. The Aqualilies are synchronized swimmers, and their style harkens back to the 1950’s. That was when Esther Williams was singing and swimming, taking Hollywood by storm. I decided that I wanted to try the collection, as tarte advertised this as makeup that wears extremely well in the water.

The Limited Edition Aqualillies for tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Eye and Cheek Palette($38.00), has six new eye shadows, bronzer, highlighter and a limited-edition 12-hour blush. The six eye shadow shades are: hammock (darkest chocolate matte brown), bikini (shimmery peach gold), barefoot (shimmery sand), parasol (shimmery champagne), sundeck (matte wood brown) and poolside (shimmery turquoise). The highlighter is champagne, the bronzer is park avenue princess (matte medium bronze). The blush color is captivating (matte bright coral). Almost all of the colors went on well for swatches. The only color that did not swatch well was the turquoise color. It went on very light compared to how it looked in the pan. I found that when I went to use it on my lid I had to actually use it wet to get any sort of pigmentation. Now, are the shadows waterproof? I went to wash the swatches off my arm and low an behold, they come off with plain water! Boy was I surprised and disappointed. I was hoping this palette would have a nice outcome. I did find that all of the eye shadows wore well all day except for the poolside color, which creased even with an eye primer on!

This is the Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liner Eyeliner in Splash ($24.00), a bright shimmering turquoise. It comes with a dual-ended bent brush for lining. This eyeliner definitely has loads of pigment and IS waterproof. I had to scrub the eyeliner off with a washcloth.

Glamazon Pure Performance 12-hour lipstick in Timeless ($26.00), very bright coral red. The color wore ALL day long. It really is a 12 hour long experience. I did find it a little dry after a while but it is such a rich color experience that I figured I could just apply a little clear lip gloss in the center of my lips for some shine and moisture if needed. The color even lasted through lunch and almost through eating dinner. Is is waterproof? Yes. I had to really scrub with soap and a washcloth to get this swatch off my arm. A woman who can wear this kind of color exudes confidence. I felt very confident wearing this color.

For the “Aqualilies” look seen above, I used the following:

eye shadows: sundeck in the crease, hammock in the outer edge of the lid, blended up into the crease 2/3 of the way and under the eye, poolside used wet on the lid (as you can see it is still not as vivid as it should be) and then parasol under the brow. splash waterproof liner was used to line the upper lid. I used SEPHORA’s Outrageous Volume Mascara on lashes.

cheeks: park ave princess under the cheekbone, captivating on the cheek and to highlight, champagne.

lips: timeless glamazon 12-hour lipstick was used on the lips over a nude lip liner, and it has a ton of pigment.

face: LORAC’s Touch –Up To Go in CF1 Fair, a concealer and foundation pen in one.

I am somewhat disappointed in the Aqualilies palette. When something is advertised waterproof, I expect waterproof. Especially for $38.00, which is not chump change. And most of the eye shadows are nice, except for the one that should be the most vivid amongst the bunch, which even when used wet still didn’t provide enough pigment to wow me. The look on the tarte website shows a beautiful turquoise eye and I am not sure how they got that, they must have used a different eye shadow for sure! I also expect pigmentation in the eye shadows, which I didn’t get in the turquoise.

I definitely recommend the eyeliner and lipstick that I purchased, they rock. There was also a finishing powder, I didn’t get that. It didn’t seem any different than what I currently had and just seemed to have cute packaging. So, the eye shadow palette sold out and I am sure most customers are upset because they feel they got gipped. The eyeliner and lipstick are still in stock and I do recommend those, they are definitely waterproof as advertised and would look great for summer! tarte products can be purchased here: www.tartecosmetics.com, www.sephora.com, www.ulta.com, www.beauty.com and SEPHORA and Ulta stores.